17 First Day - part 2

2nd September 1991, Hogwarts

After Herbology, there was the other Slytherin Prefect, whose name I didn't bother to hear when he was introducing himself to us, standing before the greenhouses. He was there to bring us to the Charms classroom.

It's good that Slytherin has such sensible Prefects. I thought while looking at the occasional Gryffindor first-years that were running around to find their classroom.

During the way, I had to keep Hana, my little sapling of death, hidden in the shadows of my robes as Devil's Snares don't like the light.

The Charms classroom was located on the third floor of the castle. In the classroom were three rows of desks that were facing the teacher's table which flanked two large blackboards and behind the table stood a large chair with piles of books on it so Professor Flitwick could see over his table at the students.

Professor Flitwick was a tiny little wizard. He was one of the few people that looked exactly like his movie counterpart. His brown hair was neatly combed to the sides, big mustache, and round glasses. With his black suit and wand in his hand, he looked more like he was going to conduct a choir instead of teaching students.

During the class, I was sitting with Tracey, and Daphne was sitting with Theodore Nott. She said that he was one of the better ones in Slytherin.

Although the first lesson was focused on Magical Theory, something we would be learning for about a month until we move to the Charms, the lesson was interesting as Professor Flitwick was a great teacher with a talent for theatrics and a passion for teaching.

After Charms, we had a launch break. Before I went to the Great Hall, I made a detour to the dungeons and left Hana in my room. I placed her under my bed and gave her my enchanted trunk for guarding.

When I arrived at the Great Hall to have lunch, I was greeted by the sight of the tables full of Italian food. So I happily went to my seat and ate four whole pizzas. While I was eating, I was constantly under Daphne's cold stare and complains that I should mind my manners and use the cutlery and not my hands.

Eating pizza with knife and fork? What heresy!

After lunch, we went to the Transfiguration classroom under the lead of Prefect Gemma Farley.

The classroom was on the ground floor near the Middle Courtyard of the castle. It was a large room surrounded by high windows and four rows of three desks facing the teacher's table on which was currently sitting a tabby cat. There were also several bookshelves and cages with animals, mainly birds.

I went to sit at the front desk. The reason was a cage with a big toucan next to it.

Soon, the Gryffindor first-years started coming into the classroom and a certain little witch sat next to me. "Hello, Hermione."

"Hallo, Suou. I still can't believe that you got into Slytherin. I heard that it's a House full of Dark wizards."

Well, I would say it's a House full of possible Dark wizards. They became truly Dark wizards by either the influence of their parents or the prejudice from the other Houses. If everyone is treating you in some way, you will eventually also think about yourself in that way.

"It's not that bad. Nothing bad happened to me yet." Though, I can't say the same about the other snakes. After all, a Demon entered their den.

It was already time to start the lesson when suddenly two Gryffindor boys rushed into the classroom. "Sigh. Amazing, can you imagine the look on old McGonagall's face if we were late?" Said the freckled redhead and walked to the free seat with the Wizarding Savior right behind him. But they had to halt their steps as the tabby cat on the table jumped into the air and transformed into an older witch in emerald-green robes and a pointed hat.

"That was bloody brilliant." Exclaimed the redhead with surprise.

"Thank you for your assessment, Mr. Weasley. Maybe if I were to transfigure Mr. Potter and yourself into pocket watches, then maybe one of you would be on time." Said McGonagall to the duo.

After the small incident, our first Transfiguration lesson began. All the small talk between the students was immediately stopped as Professor McGonagall looked at the class with her stern expression.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. Hermione next to me turned excited but her expression quickly fell when she, like the rest of the class, realized that she will not be changing the furniture into large animals for a long time. I was just thinking about why McGonagall always changes the furniture into pigs. Like when she changed my table at the orphanage in the pig too, to show me that magic is real.

Professor McGonagall then started explaining the basics of Transfiguration. While Hermione next to me was writing a lot of complicated notes, I had a staring contest with the toucan in the cage next to me.

I didn't write any notes as I didn't need to with my perfect memory. My lack of taking notes wasn't well-received by McGonagall who was giving me occasional stares and Hermione who was softly poking me with her elbow and urging me to take notes too. But she stopped when I started to poke her too.

Note to self. Hermione is ticklish under her ribs.

Professor McGonagall then gave us each a match that we had to try to change into a needle. Under the astonished eyes of my bushy-haired deskmate, I easily succeeded on my first try and got ten points for Slytherin.

For the rest of the class I talked with Agony in my head and I also had a small fencing match with Woody, him using the needle and me using my wand.

By the end of the lesson, only Hermione had made any difference to her match, turning it silver and pointy. With a smug expression and smile, she received five points from her Head of House.

After the Transfiguration was a free period, so I had a lot of free time until the dinner. I bode Daphne and Tracey farewell and went to find the Owlery to visit Yuki. But the problem was that I didn't know where to go.

Well, I still need to explore the castle and familiarize myself with its numerous floors, corridors, and stairways. So, it doesn't really matter. But first, I went to the kitchen and asked the elves if they have some snacks for the owls. They happily gave me a small bag of Eeylops Premium Owl Treats.

After an hour of wandering about the castle, I give up. Although a mental map of the Hogwarts castle was slowly forming in my mind, it will take me a long time to find the Owlery this way. So, under Presence Concealment, I jumped out of the window and flew into the sky.

For a while, I enjoyed the sight of the Hogwarts Castle from above. I looked around and soon noticed the Owlery at the top of the castle's west tower and flew inside, through one of its windows. After I landed, I canceled the Presence Concealment and scared all the owls currently inside, causing a lot of hooting.

Yuki was easy to spot as there were not a lot of white owls inside aside from her and a few snowy owls. Looking at all the owls around me, I can say that Yuki is easily the most beautiful owl in this Owlery. As expected, my Yuki is the best.

Before I gave Yuki the Owl Treats, I bit my thump and smeared them with my blood. I haven't channeled my Demonic Energy into the blood as I didn't want to make Yuki my Demon Familiar. I was just curious what would happen if I feed Yuki with my blood that has a very rich amount of my mana inside it.

Yuki happily ate the bloodied Owl Treats from my hand while I carefully examined her with my Soul Sight, Spirit Vision, and magic perception. Hmm, her soul was still the same and her body wasn't reacting to my blood in any way. She still looked very healthy as before. Only the amount of magic in her body increased slightly. I will continue feeding her my blood and maybe something interesting will eventually happen.

After a short coddle with Yuki, I walked to the window and looked down. It was not that high.

I jumped out of the window and after a rather short free fall, I landed in a superhero pose.

"F*ck, I broke my knee." Next time I will slow down my landing with my magic or outright use the Arresto Momentum on myself.

{Hehehe. Serves you right for being a poser.}

'Shut it Agony.'

I channeled my Demonic Energy into my injured knee and after a few seconds, it was as good as new. I stood up and noticed that my trousers were a little torn up so I cast Repairing and Cleaning Charms on them. Charms are really handy.

I still had a lot of free time so I decided to take a walk around the castle' grounds. When I walked around the Black Lake, I waved back to the waving tentacle of the Giant Squid.

An hour later, when I walked along the Forbidden Forest, I spotted a large pen that reached even into the forest. Inside the pen was a herd of Thestrals. They are black horse-like creatures with reptilian features and skeletal bodies. Their heads were dragonish and had pupilless white eyes. From their backs sprouted large leathery bat-like wings and their figures exuded an eerie aura.

They are such beautiful creatures. I leaned on the wooden fence and stared at them.

"What are yeh doin' here?" Asked the half-giant Gamekeeper that walked up to me from his shack nearby. He had a big basket full of raw meat in his left hand. He looked at me and then at the Thestrals and asked me with an uncertain tone. "You can see 'em?"

I nodded, still looking at the beautiful but misunderstood creatures. "Thestrals. Creatures that are visible only to these who have witnessed death and accepted its reality."

There was a silence between us for a while until Hagrid offered me to help him feed the herd. I accepted and we went inside the pen after I introduced myself and Woody.

So, after I fed the herd of Thestrals, I spent the rest of the day playing with them and occasionally talking with the kind half-giant. He asked a lot of questions about Woody and how I managed to befriend him.

Before I returned to the castle I gave Hagrid my wizarding contact info. The name and description of my Owl, Yuki.

...

It was night, I was lying on my soft king-sized bed in my pajamas and waiting for my two roommates to fall asleep. After waiting for a while to make sure, I silently got out of my bed. I didn't bother changing into my uniform and only put on my robes.

I activated the Presence Concealment and sneaked out of the dorms and common rooms unnoticed.

I walked through the corridors that were shrouded in darkness and after some time I finally arrived at Hogwarts Library located on the first floor of the castle. The only surprise on the way was the sound of some upper-years snogging in a broom closet.

I certainly didn't peek through the keyhole, because I was curious. Definitely not.

I walked along the big shelves full of books until I reached the back of the library where the Restricted Section was located. I stepped over the rope that separated it from the rest of the library and went looking for the book that I came here for.

After a while of searching, I finally found it. A book about Animagi and how to become one.